Loose Ends
by Nukoko
Summary: Years after their adventure in Mundus Magicus, Ala Alba has been taking steps to avert the future that have bought despair to so many. However many questions have yet to receive answers. During an innocent attempt to give some respite to their sensei, Chisame Hasegawa finds a lead to a question that they've yet to even ask. The fate of the former Queen of Vespertatia, Arika.
1. Chapter 1

**==[Loose Ends]==**

 **==[Chisame Hasegawa]==**

I waived my hand in the air and several translucent screens appeared, suspended in mid-air. One of the screens held an accurate map of the area we were currently traversing as well as the current condition of the airship.

We were going at cruising speed. Considering the fact that this was a rather long expedition, we needed to save energy. That and it helps with stealth. Even with advanced cloaking field tech on board, it didn't change the fact that we disturbed the environment whenever we pass through.

Knowing how things generally go with these kinds of things, or whenever we actually bother going out with a purpose, I wouldn't be surprised if a legendary dragon would somehow be revived and interfere with us… that or one of the many enemies we have will make a move.

It actually happened once before, when we were trying to look for a good place to set up a base.

Unfortunately for that dragon, the entirety of the combat force of Ala Alba was present at the time.

The poor thing didn't even last five seconds.

Hopefully nothing comes up this time around. We'll be able to handle mostly any threat but doing so wastes time and resources.

Well my expectations aren't high anyway, we had the absolute worse luck with these kinds of things.

"Nothing yet…?"

Looking to the bottom of one of the screen, I checked the time.

It was already 2:00 AM. Scrolling through the floating screen, I skimmed through the history of messages and calls that passed through our communication network.

Roughly half of them were random conversations about shopping, movies, and the like. The girls of Ala-Alba had a horrid tendency of using highly sophisticated and heavily encrypted communication lines like they were some kind of web chat.

I can only laugh at the poor sap that spends countless hours and resources breaking through our encryption, only to find a conversation on what cosmetic brand was recommended for a particular climate.

I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened yet. Gotta hand it to Chachamaru and Hakase, they did one heck of a job with it.

"Aside from the usual stuff in here, nothing out of the ordinary. No contacts or messages from the captain though."

I waved my hand to dismiss all the floating panels and leaned back on the chair. The air-conditioning was on full blast so the command pit was rather cold.

Thankfully, I did have a personal body heater with me.

"Hnn….."

Unfortunately, my sudden movement seemed to have disturbed said body heater.

It was a red haired boy currently snuggled up to me. Someone that a lot of people would probably recognized easily.

Negi Springfield. Boy genius. Bonafide monster class mage. Son of the Thousand Master, disciple of the dark evangel, trained by the Immortal Gladiator Jack _'the idiot cheat machine who can't die unless the enemy also cheats'_ Rakan. He was the savior of worlds and serial killer of maiden's hearts.

He had more titles than that but it would make his introduction too tedious and those particular titles were already an accurate summary of the kid's general image to the public.

Calling him 'kid' wasn't really appropriate at this point, since he was technically 17 years old already… however I've gotten into the habit of calling him that.

There's also the _tiny and insignificant_ detail that he was currently assuming his ten-year old form.

It's all rather complicated so best not to ask unless absolutely necessary. I'm not really a fan of overt exposition.

"Keep sleeping sensei, we've still got a lot of time before we reach the intended destination."

"Chisame… chan… hnnn…"

I adjusted my position slightly and pulled Negi-sensei closer. Thankfully, that was enough to convince Mr. Workaholic to keep his genius head in the land of fluffy dreams.

Getting the kid to take a rest from the insanity that is his life was already a chore and a half. Heck, it was easier beating unstoppable evil mages and saving the world in comparison, so I'd rather not have him wake up for any reason.

Hence, unless the world was ending in the next second or someone's about to die, I'll make sure the kid keeps sleeping.

"Haaah… this is a pain…"

I let out a sigh and took the time to study the features of my former English teacher. Looking at his face, that of his ten year old self, you'd never imagine that fact that he could take on kaijuus by himself and win without breaking a sweat.

If only he could stay like a normal ten year old boy genius instead of supreme magical hero extraordinaire…

"Geez… you work way too hard sensei…"

I allowed my hand to mess with the already tangled mess of red hair of the person I've somehow grown so fond of in the past few years. His hair was rather soft, a testament to how fuzzy the other girls can get when it comes to taking care of the kid.

People would probably wonder how close the kid and I have become to be comfortable with this kind of arrangement if they were to see it. It wasn't really always like this between us but it just somehow turned out this way.

Thankfully I never let anyone, save for ones I would categorize as close friends, ever really see us like this. Even then, at this point, I wouldn't really care what other people think or say.

It's more of a matter of making sure I don't somehow get marked as some kind of love rival that needs to be beaten. Half the girls in Ala Alba were too damn energetic for my tastes and I didn't want to have to deal with anymore teasing than necessary.

So yes, it definitely wasn't the fact that I'd be embarrassed by the thing, just that I like having peace and quiet whenever I can.

Peace and quiet were scarce nowadays.

"Hnnn…"

Sometimes I wondered what I'd be doing right now if I never got involved with the more fantastical side of the world.

My name's Chisame Hasegawa. 22 years old. Ministra of one Negi Springfield. Specialized in information, electronics, hacking, and anything computer related. Current head of the intelligence and support division of the group known as [Ala Alba].

Repeating that line still sounds weird inside my head, despite the fact that's been my go to intro line to anyone I meet whenever I'm representing the group.

Way back in ancient times, the time before everyone's favorite Negi Springfield had stumbled into the classroom of Mahora Academy, I really never imagined myself becoming the kind of person that would need a bodyguard… much less participating in a group whose primary mission statement was do crazy things to help make the world a better place.

In hindsight, the fact that the classroom was filled with oddities like ghosts, vampires, robots, and middle school girls with figures that have absolutely no business belonging to a middle school girl, I was probably just deluding myself into thinking I'd live a normal life.

Of course, I probably really would have ended up in some kind of average office desk job if I hadn't somehow committed several morally questionable decisions at the time.

One of them was falling in love with a ten year old kid who happened to be my teacher at the time.

Okay, well, given that said ten year old kid was a bonafide genius who was probably more mature and praiseworthy than anyone within that campus, adults included… but realizing that I was no better than the class president still sends chills and shivers down my spine.

I _really_ hate hindsight. I'd kick it's ass if I could.

"Hmmm…. Really, this certainly is quite the sight isn't it?"

Hearing a voice coming from behind, I let out a small sigh and slowly turned the seat, careful not to make any sudden movements that would wake up sensei.

"Exactly why the hell do all of you insist on being undetected when entering a room and speaking up?"

"Instinct. Do it enough times and it becomes ingrained in your body."

Turning around, I saw the smiling—or better yet, smirking- face of the lovely dark-skinned marksman of Ala Alba, Mana Tatsumiya.

Tall, dark, and very much mysterious. Seems cold as ice to strangers but shows a gentle smile to friends. The kind of character that you just know was hiding more than just a few secrets. Manga and video games would tell you that kind of character wasn't someone you want on the opposite side of the battlefield.

The mercenary for hire was one of the more versatile and dangerous members of the group. The girl had more experience in the field that any single one of them and would enlighten us on the more delicate issues of involving ourselves with the more unsavory parts of the world every now and then.

Fortunately, the marksman was not just a comrade but also someone she'd consider a 'close friend'.

The fact that people that I place in that category happen to include a highly advanced and humane gynoid, a god knows how old former imperial princess, a legitimate modern day Japanese princess, a samurai with white wings, a shameless paparazzi with a literal ghost for a partner, a fiendish and silent acrobat, the god be damned dark evangel, and muscle bound nigh invincible perverted nuclear warhead loaded with every imaginable cheat in the world… well that says a lot about how crazy my life had become.

Being friends with that last idiot still gives me migraines from time to time.

I really need to make better life decisions… or more normal friends. Probably the latter. It was already way too late for me to back out from this insanity.

Little wonder why I have such a hard time talking to my folks about them whenever they ask.

"You're usually one of the more conservative ones when it comes to expressing affection for that sensei of ours. I can only imagine how the livelier bunch in our group would react to seeing this."

Probably with shock, jealousy, indignation, then a formally written request that they get the same rights and treatment.

Well most of them would at least. A good amount of the members of Ala Alba, particularly the original founding members of the group, were already close enough to sensei that hugs holding hands were the norm. Thankfully, those included in the category wouldn't do anything dangerous to sensei…

The others however… well if Makie for example, any of the athletic or cheerleader girls, or one of the more mischievous members of the group were to be in the same position I was in now, then I doubt Sensei would have a comfortable sleep considering the very real danger he'd be in.

Now if it was Eva on the other hand... well that was a bit different. Letting him snuggle up to Eva would pretty much ensure getting his blood sucked.

Of course, the absolute worst case scenario was letting the kid snuggle up to the likes of Ayaka. Things are already complicated as it is, I don't want to have to call any authorities for the sexual assault on a technical minor.

I did think of the girl as a friend after all, no matter how annoying it can get whenever she's around sensei so I'd rather avoid that if possible.

Ahh crap… it won't be long until sensei turns 18 years old. Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Chachamaru and I have been able to successfully ward of any 'assault' on the kid for the time being but god knows what would happen when he becomes 'legal' under the eyes of the law.

We've already covered every romcom and ecchi cliché imaginable, I really don't want to deal with any hentai genre tropes yet.

Haaah… I'm gonna have to discuss this in a meeting with Asuna. The kid's 18th birthday party will be an absolute hell.

My mind, heart, soul, and body wasn't prepared to handle the ensuing shitstorm.

I'm already getting a migraine just thinking about it.

"Keep quiet about it. You know damn well the mess that would make."

"Ahaha, will do. We can't be stressing our Sensei here anymore than necessary…"

The marksman approached quietly, leaning over to gently caress the cheeks of their sleeping teacher. Her face changing from mischievous to serious upon seeing the condition of our teacher.

"… He must've been exhausted for him to sleep like this."

"Yeah… the kid's being put through hell. His schedule and workload can literally kill a human being, not to mention the insane amount of pressure he has to shoulder from all the helpless adults that seem to think he can just pull miracles out of his wand."

Even saying that much was an understatement. Chachamaru had been pulling all the stops to help him with managing his work and even then it was too much.

The fact that the kid literally collapsed onto me when he was given the opportunity to rest spoke volumes of how bad it was.

Sensei wasn't exactly human anymore. On top of being strong, he was the type with unparalleled mental fortitude. If the workload was enough that he was showing visible signs of exhaustion…

Needless to say, we had to trample on many commitments so we could pull off this little vacation for him.

"Helpless adults you say? Do we have more requests of that manner?"

"Tch… they just don't freaking stop. Just because we're willing to go the distance doesn't mean they can just sit back, relax, and wait like kings for us to do things for them…"

Those punks. They keep talking big about being responsible adults and then they rely on the kid to save the day. I get that he make the impossible possible but that doesn't excuse them from at least trying to do something before placing all their burdens on the kid.

His childhood was already non-existent. He didn't need his teenage years taken away from him too.

I swear to god, if we get another request to do some idiotic work that could be accomplished without sensei's help then I'm gonna shooting them down with [Al-Iskandariya].

Consequences be damned.

"So exactly how did you convince Sensei to go along with this?"

Probably sensing my agitation from my ranting, Mana decided to change the subject.

I've got a few more walls of text to say on that matter but I'll let it slide. I don't want to be waking the kid up from my ranting.

"We didn't."

Doing so was pointless. The kid wasn't the type to abandon or even half-ass his work for any reason. The only real way we were going to convince him was to somehow pass this off as some kind of important mission.

"Chachamaru had most of his appointments cancelled. Asuna and Konoka attended the more important ones. Everyone else just collectively forced the kid to accompany me in [intelligence gathering]."

"I see… I'm guessing my presence here was to make this all more believable?"

"That's part of it but it's mostly to cover our bases. You know how things usually go with us… besides, on the off chance that we do find something, it's like that we'll be needing someone combat capable. Well it's unlikely tha—"

{Chiu-sama, incoming message!}

Ah damn it, I just tempted fate didn't I?

I felt a spark of electricity and saw one of my ever so faithful servants.

The sparks gathered around and swirled in the air, and with another jolt, a cute little mouse appeared. It had a simple design that would probably appeal to the masses, enough that I'd say it can easily become a Nintendo mascot.

"What is it…?"

I had this sinking feeling, like the entirety of my body was telling me to brace myself for a sudden impact.

I wasn't combat capable and didn't have some kind of extra sensory perception that gave me insight on the future.

This was something I've somehow developed from years and years of spending time with Ala Alba and the dangers the group has to face.

Sometimes, I really hate how manga can be so god be damned realistic.

{Emergency transmission shall now be played!}

Konya, the name of this particular mouse, spun around and lifted her tail. It emitted some kind of beam that turned to a screen.

A video started playing, one that was so filled with static it was almost impossible to discern what was displayed.

 _[Yo Chisame-chan.]_

"….!?"

The screen cleared for a moment and I saw the oversized dark skinned meatloaf surrounded with countless swords that was no doubt created from his artifact.

It was Jack Rakan.

"This is…"

Mana stood beside me, carefully observing the video. For a moment, I had to wonder why she was even shocked in the first place but when the static cleared again, I understood what she saw.

 _[Heh, well anyway, remember that small lead we found? Well turns out that it miiiight just be more relevant than we thought.]_

He was surrounded by divine warriors. Those giant fighting robot machine things that felt like they would fit in an evangelion movie.

Despite being surrounded, the boisterous idiot didn't have a hint of worry in his voice.

Knowing just how stupidly broken the idiot was, I didn't even worry either.

He might have a hard time with that much divine warriors yeah, but it wasn't something that would even come close to killing him.

 _[Woah there…! ***BOOOM*** Ah, these things are getting annoying. How the hell are there so many of them anyway? Well doesn't matter, Chisame-chan, I'll send some stuff on your way.]_

How that was possible was beyond me. He was in the heat of battle with not a single piece of equipment for communication or transport in sight…

 _[Hmmm…. Considering the time you're supposed to leave the port, the general area, the wind resistance… and taking into account other factors…]_

The idiot took an idiotically large container and taped it into one of his building sized swords… with duct tape… that he somehow pulled from out of nowhere in large quantities… all the while punching the crap out of the nearest diving warrior.

I masterfully ignored the unnecessary feats of impossibility.

I was getting rather good at doing that as of late.

Oh... Wait. Waiiiiit, don't tell me this idiot is…!

 _[Okay! One package express delivery…. Comiiing uuuuuuup!]_

Taking a dramatic pose, the fool put all his strength and threw the sword at a seemingly random direction.

 _Shit._ This is a dangerous development! Knowing how this shit usually ends up, that sword will probably be sent to our _exact_ position!

"Konya, search for any high speed flying objects in the vicinity immediately!"

Sending out orders frantically, I went for the steering wheel of the ship and sent it out of auto-pilot. Sensei was definitely gonna be woken but I didn't really want to have to deal with the annoyance of having our ship cleaved in freaking half!

{Ah Chiu-tama… a flying sword has been detected… calculating its trajectory, it seems it will hit our stern in approximately 6 seconds! Ah….}

"THAT GOD BE DAMNED IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!"

 **==[Loose Ends]==**

 **==[Mana Tatsumiya]==**

"I'll kill him… I swear to god that I'll kill that fucking idiot!"

The ship was able to dodge at the very last second, the sword harmlessly passing through and hitting a nearby mountain, leading to large explosion of energy.

Chisame was half in hysterics and half in murderous rage.

Seeing the how things were, Mana Tatsumiya immediately set off the ship, both to avoid the downright hysterical ranting of one Chisame Hasegawa and have plausible deniability in the event that the girl would ever come through with her plots to kill the Immortal gladiator.

It was an unlikely occurrence, not because Chisame Hasegawa was incapable of finding a way to achieve such a thing, she'd wager that she's one of the few that could actually manage to pull it off, but because she was never really serious.

Better safe than sorry.

The other reason was that she wanted to make sure that whatever package they were sent had survived the method of delivery.

"Hmmm…?"

Arriving at the location, the building sized sword that was used to deliver the package disappeared, allowing the container to fall the ground in a loud thud.

She took out her guns and proceeded to approach the container slowly.

 ***CHIK***

Raising her guns in alert while taking a stance, she carefully observed as the container opened itself.

She waited a few seconds before finally decided to approach.

"… well now, looks like things just a got a significantly more complicated."

She took out a communicator and immediately called the ship.

{Captain! Chiu-tama is currently busy plotting Jack Rakan's death and we have taken the liberty of receiving your message.}

"Get your master back to normal. Tell her the package we just received is of extreme importance."

{Aye Aye, Captain!}

Closing the communicator, she let out a sigh, knowing full well that this was going to lead to another complicated situation.

She proceeded to reach inside the contained and carefully took out the package inside.

It was a small girl, probably not more than ten years old.

She had a long blonde hair and beautiful white skin. She wore clothes that were no doubt made out of very expensive materials.

"Arika Anarchia Entheofushia…"

She spoke the name of the little girl.

There was no objective proof. It may have just been an extreme coincidence that the little girl happened to bear an almost identical appearance to the Queen of Calamity and the mother of Negi Springfield…

However she had long ago known that those kind of coincidences were never coincidences.

Chisame was going to freak out again.

 **==[Loose Ends - Chapter End]==**

A/N: Hey there... err, I'm definitely supposed to be updated my main stories instead of writing a new one... ahhhh but UQ Holder got to me and well...

Anyway, Negi, adult Chisame and Mana, Jack the GAR Rakan, and a loli Arika. What could this possibly lead to?

Well honestly... I'm not quite sure myself... ahahaha

Leave a review if you've got the time and energy. Thank you for reading this piece.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey there, here's chapter two. As for frequency of update, no promises since I'm going to be focusing on [Beyond the Answer] and I'm not as consistent with release date on that one to begin with.

Thank you for the favs, follows, views, and reviews!

For a specific response though.

Kaze - Thank you, as an aside, have you read Traingham fics? Those are the only ones that I've really fallen in love with!

Null Nature - Thanks for pointing out the breaks. It was caused by me trying to edit through mobile. _Never again._

 **====[Loose Ends]====**

 **====[Chisame Hasegawa]====**

Being perfectly honest, there was once upon a time, back in the past, when I probably wasn't quite as bitter with reality as I am now.

Back in middle school, when I was still part of that rambunctious class of girls, learning under the kid's ever present guidance, I had a significantly positive view of the world in comparison.

I've always been an otaku and I've read enough manga and light novels, watched enough anime, played enough games, to have be shown how a fantastical world that a grounded in reality is almost assuredly harsher and darker than what the surface always appears to be.

I never cared back then of course. I was a normal girl, the one that only ever knew of fantasy through the words and images depicted in media. It didn't matter even when I knew magic existed. I planned on leading a normal life regardless and wouldn't have to deal with all that crap.

That was the case. That _should've been_ the case.

Then Negi Springfield happened.

I was taken for a roller-coaster ride in that fantasy world I only ever read about… now I really had to face the corrupt governments, the sympathetic villains, the monsters that haunt the night, and the heroes that fought for justice… I've had the misfortune of seeing the horrid reality.

The horrible reality that people are fully willing to exploit and deprive a ten year old kid, now a teenager, of any semblance of a happy normal life for the sake of whatever agenda they have in their evil little minds.

The stupid fact that the universe itself was so impossibly and sadistically cruel that it wouldn't even give the kid just one moment of peace in his life.

Seeing the girl, the spitting image of Queen Arika, I was once again reminded how fucking stupidly evil this universe really was.

The kid's gone through hell, has had his childhood stolen, his teenage years and most likely his adult years dedicated to righting the wrongs that every other person had given up on correcting.

Again, I'd like to ask the universe, to just once, _just for one god be fucking moment_ , let the kid have some peace!

 _Why the hell is that so hard to give?!_

"She's doing well, it doesn't seem like the rough ride had affected her. I couldn't find any injuries, though it seems she shows no signs of waking up."

I was broken out of my spiel against the world by the firm grip of Mana's hand on my shoulder.

I turned to look at her but didn't give a verbal response.

We've known each other for years at this point so I can just use my eyes to tell her my exact feelings on the current situation.

"I know. I know how you might be feeling right now. I know that you give a damn about that kid more than even Asuna... But Chisame... we need to tell sensei."

Never a woman to beat around the bush, Mana had immediately gone straight to the heart of the problem.

That the existence of this Loli Arika needed to be made known, to him.

I blanched at the idea. It wasn't like I was against the idea of the kid finally reuniting with his long lost mother….

It wasn't that. It was the fact that this _could go wrong in so many ways_ that I hesitated.

If this truly was Queen Arika, as in the real article with no strings attached then I'd be the first to wake the kid up with a smile on my face to tell him that we've finally found his mother. Then I'd gently watch the touching reunion while calling everyone to inform them.

But what if it wasn't? What if this was just some kind of illusion? What if this Arika would just as well disappear at some point of time? What if she was some kind of imposter?

The kid's cosmo entelechia was having a family. _That was his greatest wish_ , the one thing that would make him happier than anything else.

If he were to meet this Arika now but be separated in the future or find out that she was some kind of fake, how painful would that be for him? How cruel would that be to do to him?

"Chisame."

Mana grabbed me from behind and turned me to face her, she stared me straight in the eye.

"He needs to know. Fake or not, even if might get hurt again, we don't have the right to decide that for him."

I swatted away her arms and grabbed her collar tightly.

That set me off. We weren't just his friends and companions here, _we were his family._

"I do...! We all do! He's been hurt enough! He's gone every manner of hell... we can't! Without even knowing if she's the real thing, we can't just...!"

"Hnnyaa...?"

With frame perfect timing, as if it was all planned, the little girl signaled her awakening right as my argument with Mana was about to set off.

Bravo loli Arika. That actually calmed me down.

"Haaaah…."

I took a few deep breathes to calm myself down before fixing wiping my eyes a bit and fixing my glasses.

For the record, I wasn't crying, so shut it. There was just sweat in that particular area.

I shook my head before looking back at Mana. There was a slightly exasperated but understanding look on her face.

"Mana, sorry... I got too emotional there. You're right, the kid does need to know. Besides, hiding this girl would be too difficult anyway."

"No, it's fine. You always have Sensei's best interest in mind. However, you _are_ his voice of reason, so shape up Hasegawa."

"Yeah, yeah..."

The tension in the air disappeared from that little exchange. It wasn't like it was the first time we've had one. In fact, arguments were quite normal among the group but you know, all that love, family, and friendship thing pulling through.

Yes you punks, manga and anime were indeed very good basis for how this world works. Try them sometime.

"Go handle our little queen then. I'll go check a few things on the bridge."

After a light and comforting tap on my shoulder, Mana opened the door and set off for the bridge, probably because she didn't want to deal with our aforementioned little queen.

Now, it was already very well known among the group that she loved kids and were actually rather good with them, so it was probably her way of taking distance so as not to get attached to loli Arika.

Which means I have to be the one to deal with this one.

I let out another sigh before finally approaching Loli Arika. Which, yes, is now my personal pet name for her. Because that's the easiest way to describe her.

You know it is.

"My Name is Chisame Hasegawa, the current captain of the ship. What's your name?"

I crouched down to put me at the same eye level. She looked completely guarded but willing to communicate.

To clarify, I was indeed the proper captain of this ship, which was named 'Dark Evangel'.

Three guesses and an imaginary cookie to whomever can guess who named it.

Ala Alba was well supported financially. Considering we have the Chao Bao Zi, Hakase Inc., the Yukihiro Group, and Haruna's illegal Yaoi Empire, we were _very well_ funded. That doesn't even include Evangeline's contribution to the group.

Enough that we currently own several air ships. Aside from the Haruna's [Great Paru-sama], there's the [White Lily], the personal not-love nest for Konoka and Setsuna, the [Negi-sensei Love] that Ayaka uses, go-figure, and the [Ala-Alba], the one we use for formal occasions.

Anyway, the aforementioned mistress of the night, Evangeline A.K. Mcdowell, had felt that as the most powerful member of the group and the master of the second most powerful person in the group, she had every right to own her own airship.

Hence, deals were done, threats were made, money was spent, Hakase got involved, and we ended up with a Jet-black, magically enchanted, steam-punk stealth type airship.

Then the great night terror in loli form got too lazy to bother with the thing and decided to just drop the thing on my lap to deal with and the rest was history.

To this day, I don't know whether getting this airship was fortunate or misfortunate.

Ah right… I got distracted. Back to loli Arika.

"Ah, my name is... name...?"

Shit. Please not the amnesia development. _Please_!

That's the most irritating development to deal with. It slows down the plot to a crawl, prevents us from getting any real relevant information, and prolongs everyone's suffering in order to simulate a longer story than what it should be.

I most definitely do not want to only learn the important pieces of info while we're dealing with a life threatening situation, thank you very much.

So please, please, please, tell me that you remember your name at least!

I looked at the confused face of loli Arika and pleaded with all my might to be given a better plot development.

"I-I... I don't know my name... I don't..."

God damn it. Universe, you're progressively getting lower on my shit list.

Ahhh… this is what I get from going off on a tangent.

Okay, okay girl, it's unfortunate that we got the amnesia development but no choice but to just nod and move on. Griping about it will just provoke the universe into making it even more annoying so best no to tempt fate.

However, before we get into anything else, it's best that I confirm something very important.

"Its fine... but do you happen to remember any large dark skinned man with a face that no child should ever approach?"

"D-Do you mean Rakan-san? Yes, he had saved me from the monsters..."

How unfortunate. So she does remember Rakan, which means that her memory loss wasn't caused by anything he did.

A pity. It's been a while since I've hacked into Al-Iskandariya to shoot it at something.

"H-he did mention that he was going to send me to someone named Chiu-chan… could you be that person?"

"… Before I answer that question, exactly how did he describe this Chiu-chan?"

"Well… he said that Chiu-chan was a red-headed girl and that I should worry if she seemed mean because she was just being too tsun for her own good… I don't understand what 'tsun' means however…"

Scratch what I said a few lines ago. It looks like I'm gonna be hacking into Al-Iskandariya _very soon._

"Okay, first of all…"

"A-ah, yes...?"

I paused, realizing I was about to call her Arika-sama. The girl had no inkling of who she was or who she seemed to be.

"Hime. Right, that's the most appropriate name for now. Alright, so Hime, I am indeed Chiu-chan though I prefer to be called Chisame, _understood?_ Also, don't bother trying to understand what the big oaf tries to say, _are we clear?_ "

"Y-yes!"

Probably slightly intimidated by the intensity of my requests, she trembled and answered immediately.

Good. It was best that my net-idol name spread any further. I've managed to bury any and all associations of the _still famed_ former internet queen and idol, Chiu with my real name. As far as the net was concerned, Chiu had stepped aside so that other net idols could get exposure and had happily retired after finding true love.

It was a matter of making sure that my public image as the advisor of one Negi Springfield was flawless so that none of our more villainous detractors could have any means of running a smear campaign or something and, more importantly, to make sure that the number of people who knew of my secret in Ala Alba won't increase.

I still remember the day Evangeline of all people found out about it.

 _That was hell._

"Chisame, come in."

"Hmmm... yeah, what is it?"

I could hear Mana's voice coming from the speaker in the room.

"Get in the bridge."

I grimaced from the serious tone of voice Mana had.

That never bode well.

"Hime. Stay here, understood?"

"A-ah, yes…"

I stared at her for a few more seconds to make sure that she would stay before leaving the room.

I got out of the room and entered the circular hallway. There were five other rooms aside from the one I just exited. The center of the area was an elevator that allowed access for the bridge and the technical rooms.

I quickly made my way to the bridge through the elevator, quickly passing through the magical and biometric checks that's needed to access the area.

The bridge entered my sights and I still wasn't used to seeing it.

After all, unlike every other airship, it looked like there was absolutely no equipment in it.

Aside from the two chairs for the pilot and co-pilot, there was no instrumentation in sight, not even anything that can be used to steer the ship.

This was by design however, since the controls of the ship were purely magical in nature. The ship itself employed unique systems that employed a lot of Hakase's advanced magic-science combo that did tended to push the boundary of logic even in a world of magic.

Essentially, that made it so that the ship could only be operated by select individuals, _among other things._ Any registered person was capable of accessing the control system, represented by holographic screens and instrumentation.

How difficult was it to operate you ask?

To put it simply, if you've ever played video games, you can definitely pilot this thing with only a month's worth of training.

You'd have to be _a really good_ gamer though.

"What is it?"

I approached Mana, who currently had several screens in front of her. One of them being the map screen.

Ah right, the control scheme was RPG inspired.

"… huh?"

Mana handed me the map screen and enlarged it. She then scrolled it to show the anomaly.

The map was repeating. As in no matter how long Mana scrolled the map, the landmarks stayed the same like they were in an endless loop.

"Are the probes malfunctioning…?"

I immediately brought up a screen that controlled the Ship's scouting probes. They were designed based on Kazumi's artifact. The ship focused on scouting and stealth, so it utilized the probes to gather information and would mostly be used for mapping out unknown areas.

However, checking the screen monitoring their status, I couldn't see anything wrong with their condition.

"I can't blame you, I only noticed this when I came out to pick up our little queen. The area she crashed in was far too familiar for it to just be 'similar'."

I had a sinking feeling as Mana was stating her suspicions.

Right, this is probably gonna be one of those times again.

I immediately opened the console for to check the status of our communication lines. There had been no incoming messages nor were there any attempts to contact the ship from anyone.

Which was impossible. Asuna would usually check on sensei at least once a day regardless of how busy she was. Not to mention there's _at least someone_ checking in or at least talking about _something_. So there was no way there were no attempts on contact for _several hours_.

"Don't bother trying to contact anyone. We're completely cut off, I can't even get direct contact from Chacharmaru."

Okay, now considering Chachamaru was directly linked to this ship, that was actually worrying.

"Right... checking the history, it looks like Rakan's video message was the last thing we were able to receive. There's even an hour's worth of silence before the video came in, so whatever happened was within that time frame…"

I quickly manipulated the controls and set a persistent distress signal. That should get us reinforcement even if we're somehow indisposed while the communication lines were restored.

"Haaah... great, it's gonna be one of those days. Okay, rats, check everything twice."

With a spark of electricity, 8 electronic spirits that took the appearance of cute mascot-like rats, were summoned.

They all did a mock salute with their tails before going charging into the floating holographic panel and downloaded themselves into the system.

"Looks like it. Standard procedure?"

"Yes. The rats will check out the Dark Evangel's status so we know our systems aren't just messing with us. Please check and confirm from the outside and see if we're really looping around."

Now that i think about it, there was another glaring thing I should've noticed.

"I'm going to check on the kid and see if he's okay."

It was the fact that Negi Springfield was still sleeping.

Even after a large explosion.

Even after I separated from him and laid him down on one of the bed-chambers.

Due to how his life is now, the kid's become a light sleeper. The slightest of sound could wake the kid up unless he was being firmly held by a trusted female body.

Unless there was another girl that somehow got inside the ship without our knowledge, currently cuddling with him, then he should, by all rights, be awake.

Now, for the first time in my life, I was honestly wishing that the latter was true.

 **====[Loose Ends]====**

 **====[Chisame Hasegawa]====**

I once again took the elevator to return to the quarters. Getting out of the elevator and facing the room directly in behind the elevator, I hovered my hand on the access panel to open the door.

"Chisame-san...?"

However, before the system even confirmed my access, the door opened to reveal the target of affection of many, many, _many females._

I stared at the kid to check his current condition. His clothing was in disarray and his hair looked like it was hit by a storm… but what was telling was the fact that his posture was sloppy. His back was slightly arched and it seemed like his hands were hanging down like a lead weight trying to bring him down.

I was no martial artist, no matter how many times Asuna tried to convince me to learn a bit, but the kid carried himself with discipline at all times so seeing him slouch like this was pressing my panic button.

Seeing the look on my face, he gave me a sheepish smile.

I glared in response.

"I feel heavy and sluggish. Chisame-san. I don't particularly feel any pain but I needed to drag my body out of the bed."

An honest answer. Good. If he even came close to trying to pretend nothing was wrong, I would've gone nuclear on his ass.

Be amazed. This honesty was the result of seven years' worth of effort people.

Considering this is sensei though, it was likely that he was _still_ downplaying the severity of his condition.

"Come here..."

I crouched and pulled him closer. I wasn't anywhere near the level of Konoka or Ako in terms of being a medic but I had a good idea on what kind may have been causing

"How's your magia erebia?"

There were quite a few things in the current world that could even touch the kid. Due to his now unqiue constitution, he didn't actually get sick by normal means anymore.

Ever since he had made Magia Erebia his own, any kind of sickness were something related to magic. Adverse environments tend to have small effects on him, particularly the magically rich areas.

I'll reiterate it, but I had no deep medical knowledge, but there was a reason the kid could go in these kinds of adventures even with just me and one other combatant accompanying him.

As collectively agreed upon in a meeting, Ala Alba had decided that the kid needed to be accompanied by at least one guard and one support member.

The support member was either capable of healing or fast transport, but I had neither of that.

What I had though… was the fact that my knowledge of Magia Erebia was extensive. My involvement with the kid's decision to take on the forbidden technique had made me feel rather obligated to learn about the thing to make sure I could help the kid out when needed.

Of course, that meant tutelage under Evangeline, which was another set of memories that I would prefer to keep deep, _deep_ , in the back of my head.

"Ah... let me..."

Though he technically had Magia Erebia perpetually active now, he still actually needed to invoke it to use its other properties.

"Ah...?"

"... Haaah... this day just keeps getting better..."

When sensei invoked his magia erebia, tribal-tattoo like markings that looked like flames would appear.

Usually, said patterns were made of bright lights.

Right now though, they were pitch black.

What a wonderful god damn day this was.

 **====[Loose Ends]====**

A/N: Thanks for reading! Lots of exposition on this one, yeah?

Being perfectly honest, I don't really have much plans for this one so update on here will be sporadic at best.


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